Victoria Falls

So sorry for not writing for so long. I've had time, I just haven't had the motivation,despite polite reminders from friends. I'm starting easy, this is something steph and I wrote about our New Years weekend.

Hey there!
This weekend, Ben and I went to Victoria Falls. We didn’t stay long, only 2 days, but it was incredible! I had been looking forward to seeing the falls ever since we found out we were coming to Zambia, and they were even more magnificent than I’d imagined.

The first day, we went to Devil’s Pool – a small pool at the top and very edge of the falls. First you get picked up at The Royal Livingstone, where you are brought to Livingstone Island, where David Livingstone was taken to first view the falls in a dugout canoe. Upon seeing the falls Livingstone said "Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight." While boating to the island you pass hippos munching on grass, and crocs munching on tourists; there are often elephants too. You then have to hold hands and walk across waist deep strong flowing water (only about 15m above the falls). The guide turns to us and said, “You are strong swimmers right?” and we all laughed and then he said, “okay, now jump in and swim hard to that rock” (about 20m away across swift current)…I just kept thinking that old people do this so I should be able to and we jumped in and swam hard. We then reached the Devils Pool (see below).



Once at Devil’s Pool, you have to go against all instinct and JUMP “as high and as far as you can” towards the edge of the falls into a small pool of water. There are sharp rocks below the entry point so you have to clear them to make it into the pool. There is a submerged rock wall that holds you at the top, but you can’t see it until you are touching it. Also half of the Devils pool is “open” meaning that there is no wall and you can’t see where it ends.



We jumped in and floated towards the end and Ben clung onto the rock wall and we posed for pictures while water was rushing over and down 100m beneath us. You can actually look over the top while you cling desperately to this rock wall. It’s actually very safe, but it is SO scary, it really feels like at any moment you could be washed up over the edge. Don’t let our smiles in the photos fool you – we were terrified!



Don’t worry, we’re safe – the guy taking the pictures has a throw rope ready a few feet away from him…





Devil’s Pool from a distance



We spent the afternoon at the Royal Livingstone Hotel, a beautiful, colonial hotel right on the edge of the river at the top of the falls. It had perfectly manicured lawns, its own herd of zebras, and staff dressed like safari porters, giving it the feel of David Livingstone’s exploration camp-turned hotel. There was even someone galloping a horse across the lawn when we arrived.




The next day (New Year’s Day), we went rafting on the Zambezi. The first half of the trip has most of the BIG rapids, and the water is getting higher every day, so they can only do these runs for another few weeks, then it gets too dangerous. We went for a full day – 25 rapids, about 35km of river. What a trip! I lost count of how many class 5 rapids we did. Class 5 is defined as “Exceedingly difficult, long and violent rapids, following each other almost without interruption; riverbed extremely obstructed; big drops; violent current; very steep gradient; close study essential but often difficult. Requires best person, boat, and outfit suited to the situation. All possible precautions must be taken.” As a result all my muscles are sore from paddling and holding on and swimming and pulling other people in and trying to keep my balance and not drown.



One of the biggest rapids is #4 -Morning Glory, and we flipped our raft on that one. It was HUGE!!! We came into it, then everyone got down and held on for dear life, and it all seemed to go in slow motion for me at that point.



The raft was perpendicular to the water, and we were all thrown out into the white water. After a bit of a struggle and a big gulp of water, I saw the orange of the bottom of the raft and no other people around. There was a little pocket of air under there, so I took a big gulp of it and found my way out. Ben managed to scramble instantly back onto the now upside down raft and was trying to keep everyone calm and speed up our recovery, but wasn’t succeeding because he didn’t actually know how to recover an overturned raft. We spent the next 150m of the river upside down trying not to get sucked into whirlpools. It was scary, but also so exhilarating – especially once we flipped and knew the worst of it was over.



For the second half of the day, we had a different group with us. At first glance, Ben and I thought these guys are going to be great – they were all pretty big, muscular guys, looked like they wanted to hit the big rapids. They couldn’t have been worse! They couldn’t paddle at all, and they would get tired and stop, or not follow directions and paddle forwards when they were supposed to paddle backwards, and duck into the boat and hold on when we needed to maneuver around something – we barely made it around one huge hole that eats rafts because of them. Our guide told Ben and me later how he was a bit scared because of them! Anyways, everything was still fine, and it was a great day. It’s amazing how different “big water rapids” are to the water and rapids at home. Whirlpools are the biggest difference and can suck an entire kayak underwater for several seconds. It’s the most common way to drown, because people get sucked down and put their arms up to swim up and their life jacket gets pulled up and off and that’s the end. At the start we saw two people going “River Boarding”; you get a little body board and flippers and we met up with them a few rapids down the morning section, both inside a raft on their backs, tears streaming down the girls face.



That being said, there were probably 100 people on the river that day, which means thousands every year, and people only die every couple years. There was a section where Ben and I were swimming (on purpose) through Class II rapids, nothing major, and it was fine, then all of a sudden I was sucked under the water in a whirlpool – Ben said he felt my helmet at his waist level – then I just felt Ben grab my arm and pull me up! The water got slow and calm again and the whirlpools were wide and slow and we all laughed as we circled round each other knowing the danger was over. We were very far from our boat talking with some white Zimbabweans when their guide yelled “Crocodile! Get in the boat” we thought they were joking at first and then they pointed to the croc the spotted and we instantly became Olympic swimmers and got to the raft in no time! The crocs there aren’t huge, so it wasn’t really a big deal, but when you’re in the middle of a river and someone’s yelling “croc!” at you, you move. Apparently, crocs get washed over the falls, and the big ones don’t make it but the little ones do, so on this part of the river, there are only a few small crocodiles. Also, according to our guide, even elephants and hippos sometimes get swept up by the current and go over the falls! There is a big eddy where the bodies collect and villagers go down to collect meat and teeth.



Even though it was terrifying at times, I would do it again. Besides the thrill of the rapids, it was some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. The huge cliffs and the trees and the black rocks and the river – I can’t even tell you how beautiful it was. The great part about the river is that it’s a ‘pool and drop’ river – you get a section of rapids, but then a nice section of calm where you can collect yourself again and enjoy the landscape around you. What an incredible day.
We left Livingstone that night, and are back in Lusaka today. Tomorrow I go back to Katete. Already I want to go back to Livingstone to see the falls, go rafting, and maybe do the gorge swing this time.
Anyways, thought I’d just write you and tell you about our weekend, and give you a couple photos. So far 2011 is going well for us…
Love you, talk to you soon, Happy New Year!

Steph & Ben